Two Years Later
by zapphoman
Summary: A unique look at the story of Commander Shepard and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy.
1. Prologue

(Gabriel Shepard and Tali Zorah nar Rayya are talking in the Drive Core of the SSV Normandy. Nobody else is there but them. Shepard is sitting on the guard rail while Tali is leaning on it.)

Tali: Do I have to bring up the Geth Prime?

Shepard: We have seen alot of Geth Primes this past month Tali. You'll have to be more specific.

Tali: Keelah Shepard, you know which one I'm talking about. The one that shot through your barriers and had its Plasma Rifle right in your face.

Shepard: Oh...that one.

Tali: Yeah, the one that was about to blow your head off before I came in at the last second, overloaded it shields, and Garrus took it down with his Mantis

Shepard: You two couldn't of done that without me distracting it.

(They both laugh a bit)

Tali: Garrus is so talented with that gun. He could probably even out match Kal Reegar with it.

Shepard: (with just a hint of concern in his voice) Boyfriend back home?

Tali: Oh no. Nothing like that. We're just friends. He's a great soldier though. I think you would like him. Speaking of...those kinds of friends...how's Ashley? I noticed she's upset about something.

Shepard: Yeah...she's still kind of steaming over the fact I didn't pick her to come with me to Illos.

Tali: She's mad about that?

Shepard: Yeah. She said that it made her feel like I didn't trust her or something.

Tali: Did you trust her?

(Shepard thinks about it for a moment)

Shepard: I've seen a lot of things and species that not so many humans have. Ashley has seen a few of them too, but those were threats. Seeing so many of them, I don't think she would be able to tell the difference between a hostile and a ally and Illos was kind of an unknown. That's why I needed calmer heads with me. I couldn't think of anybody better than you and Garrus. Besides it worked out for the best.

Tali: Why is that?

Shepard: Because I imagine she would have shot me in the head when I sacrificed human lives to save the council. She still hasn't let me live that down.

Tali: I have to admit Shepard that even caught me off guard. Why did you save the council?

Shepard: You saw what I saw Tali. You heard what Vigil said. If the reapers are half of the threat they seem to be, we're going to need the council races on our side.

Tali: Well...if I have anything to do with it, you can depend on the Migrant Fleet if the reapers come.

Shepard: Thank you Tali. So, did you learn anything from that Geth data I got for you?

Tali: I did and it's going to be quite helpful for my pilgrimage. I can go back to the Flotilla anytime now. I have you to thank for that.

Shepard: Then why I haven't you gone back yet?

(Tali looks over at Shepard. Her mask hides the worried look on her face)

Shepard: Not that I want you to leave. You're always welcomed on the Normandy while I'm in charge.

(Still hidden, the concern turns to relaxed in Talis face)

Shepard: I just thought you would want to see your family again.

Tali: I do, but I think there are a lot more Geth to take out before then.

Shepard: Well...(jumps down from the guard rail) lets take them out slowly. I would hate to have to lose such a great ally.

(A smile and some blushing shows up on Talis hidden face)

Tali: I'm nothing special Shepard.

Shepard: Nothing special? Let's see...first you almost single handedly took out Sarens assassins, then you provided information that proved that Saren was a traitor that in turn made me the first human Spectre, then you become invaluable to the Normandy...

Tali: (with her head down) It's a Quarian thing...

Shepard: (walking towards Tali while he talks) Then you follow me to almost certain death when we went to Illos to fight who knows how many Geth and Saren, and now you have become invaluable once again in taking out the rest of the Geth, a venture that like you said before, nearly got my head blown off if it wasn't for your intervention.

(Shepard is right in front of Tali at this point. Tali is still looking down. Shepard gently lifts the chin of her helmet, forcing her eyes to meet his)

Shepard: I don't know about you...(in a soft voice) but that makes you pretty damn special in my book.

(They stand there for a few moments, looking into each others eyes. Tali is breathing hard before)

Tali: Shepard...

Shepard: Yes, Miss nar Rayya...

Tali: There has been something I have been wanting to tell you.

(Tali has Shepards complete attention right now)

Tali:I...I...

(Suddenly an explosion is heard and the Normandy violently jerks, sending Tali crashing into Shepard making them both fall to the floor. Shepard looks up to see Tali on top of him. There is fear in Shepards eyes and though he doesn't know, the same look could be seen in Talis eyes.)

Shepard: Joker! What's going on?

(Jokers voice can be heard over the comm system)

Joker: The Normandy's being attacked Commander.

Shepard: Geth?

Joker: No Commander. It's an unidentified vessel and it's weapons are ripping our shields apart.

Tali: Oh Keelah...

(An alarm goes off and red lights turn on as Shepard looks into Talis eyes again. He realizes what he has to do.)

Shepard: We need to get everybody in escape pods now.

Joker: Already underway Commander.

Shepard: We need to get you on one too, Tali.

(They stand up and run out of the Drive Core. Most of the crew members are making way for the escape pods. Explosions are going off, throwing crew members to their deaths. Realizing he could easily lose Tali in this mob of people, Shepard grabs a hold of Talis hand and pushes through the crowd. She follows closely behind. An explosion goes off right beside them, sending them both falling to the ground. Shepard is on top of Tali, holding her body close to him and holding her head against his chest.)

Shepard: Any suit ruptures?

Tali: No, I'm ok Shepard.

Shepard: Ok, lets go.

(Shepard grabs Talis hand again and they start running. They finally get to the escape pods. Shepard runs towards one but the door shuts right in front of him and the escape pod launches. Then a fimiliar voice is heard.)

Wrex: SHEPARD!

(Shepard looks over to one of the escape pods and sees Urdnot Wrex, Garrus Vakarian, and Liara Tsoni are sitting in it. Shepard walks over with Tali)

Shepard: Got room for a few more?

Garrus: I think we can squeeze a few more in if we throw Wrex out.

Wrex: Then it's going to have to be a tight ride Garrus, unless you want to try.

(Liara shakes her head)

Liara: Of course we have room Shepard.

(Shepard helps Tali in. Tali gets in a seat and straps in. She looks over to see a few crew members have joined them but no sign of...)

Tali: Where's Shepard?

(Suddenly the door closes and the pod launches. The window on the door shows the Normandy drifting away from the pod)

Liara: He'll get on one of the other escape pods.

Wrex: Of course he will. He's Shepard after all.

( A few moments go by before Ashleys voice is heard over the radio)

Ashley: I'm away and I have Adams and Chakwas with me. Most of the crew are away as well. Pressly didn't make it.

Garrus: What about Shepard?

Ashley: He went...He went to get Joker.

(Tali unstraps herself and runs to the window, watching the Normandy from a far. The Normandy is drifting in pieces and there is a big hole near where the cockpit would be. Tali watches as another shot from the hostile ship hits the hole. After a few moments, another voice is heard through the radio)

Joker: This is Joker. I'm away but Shepard isn't with me. I repeat, Shepard isn't...

(Suddenly, the Normandy explodes.)

Tali: SHEPARD!

(Nobody talks...the radio is silent...all that can be heard is the cries from Tali...)

After this moment, everything changed. Garrus would go on to become a vigilantee on Omega. Wrex would go on to lead the Krogan. Liara would go to become an information broker. Ashley continued working for the Alliance Military. She mourned Shepard for a while but absorbed herself into her work. As did Tali, who returned to the Flotilla with the data Shepard gave her. The data helped her join the crew of the ship Neema and later became known as Tali Zorah vas Neema. For two years, she allowed only the well being of the Flotilla into her mind but every once in a while, there were talks amongst the crew of the Neema, talks of cries of deep sorrow being heard on the other side of the door to Talis room.


	2. The Rescue Mission Pt 1

The Rescue Mission

Tali is in the Drive Core of the Normandy, looking down at a pair of boots. They belong to a man. The man is listing off things that Tali has done for him. She feels the heat from her cheeks as he continues. She keeps her head down to hide her blushing, forgeting that the man can't see her face.

The man gently lifts her head up by her chin, forcing her to look in his eyes.

The short brown hair that he spiked up over his forehead, the long scar over his eye that he had before they had met that she always wondered about, and those green eyes that he didn't have to force her for long to look into. It was Gabriel Shepard. The man Tali has been watching ever since she joined his crew on the Normandy. He softly says something to Tali that nearly stops her breathing...

"I don't know about you, but that makes you pretty damn special in my book."

He continues to look in her eyes as if he's waiting for something. She's...wondering if this is the time to tell him how she felt, but worried that it might go wrong. Worried that if she says whats on her mind, it could destroy the wonderful friendship they have.

She finally decides that if this isn't the moment that she has been waiting for, then she's tired of waiting for it.

"Shepard..."

"Yes Miss Nar Rayya?"

She notices his anticipation. He wants to hear what she has to say. This is the moment if she can just say it...

Suddenly, an explosion is heard and now Tali is running with her hand in Shepards down a hallway of the Normandy as he guides her to the escape pods. People are all around them. Running for their lives or dying from the explosions. Another explosion goes off. This one right beside them. Tali closes her eyes as she sees the flames and feels her body fall to the ground.

Tali expects to feel numb, what she imagines every body feels like after death, but instead she feels like she has over two hundred pounds on top of her. She opens her eyes to see the concerned look on Shepards face. She looks down to see his arms wrapped around her waist. Before she can realize what he did...

"Any suit ruptures?" Gabriel asks.

Tali lifts up her left arm and looks at her omni-tool. No compromises...

"_Thanks to you." _She thinks to herself. "No, I'm ok Shepard."

Now Shepard is helping Tali into an escape pod. She sees her friends Garrus, Liara, and Wrex inside. She sits down in a seat and straps herself in. She then looks to her right and sees two other Normandy crew members sitting beside her. Who she doesn't see though...

"Where's Shepard?"

Everything slows down around her as Tali looks up to the escape pods entrance. She sees Gabriel looking at her. She then sees the door slowly closing in front of him, but to her horror, she also sees a wall of flames coming from behind him. Tali reaches her arm out towards Shepard. The flames have made contact with him as the door slams shut...

"SHEPARD!"

Tali realizes that she is back on the Neema, the ship she joined when she returned to the Migrant Fleet from her pilgrimage. She's in her small room, sitting up in her bed, with her arm stretched out.

"Damn it..." Tali says to herself after she realizes it was the nightmare again. The same nightmare she's been having for the past two years.

Beyond her arm, she can see a picture frame on a table at the end of her bed. She crawls down to the end of the bed and grabs it.

Garrus was able to get it before he made his way to the escape pods that day. Garrus, Gabriel, and Tali all had one, but Garrus was the only one who was able to save a copy.

After the day Tali, Garrus, and Wrex went to the Citadel to ask the Council to help try to appeal the Alliance Military's decision to not give Shepard a military funeral, a move that failed even with Counciler Anderson on their side, Garrus gave the picture to Tali.

The picture was of Tali, Shepard, and Garrus. They were all wearing helmets. Shepard was standing in the middle, wearing his N7 armour, with his arm around Talis shoulders and banging fists with Garrus, who was holding up his Mantis sniper rifle with his other hand. Tali was wearing her old light purple and black suit at the time.

She remembered everything about that day. They were on the planet Casbin in the Hong system. They took down an Geth outpost there. Before the picture, they had taken down a Geth Colossus, evident from the pile of rubble behind them.

Neither Shepard or Garrus knew it, but Tali had a big smile on her face when the light flashed, taking the picture that brought back memories of great times with her friends.

But it worked both ways...

Looking at the picture brought that terrible night back to Talis mind like the nightmare did before. She sees herself back on the escape pod, watching from afar as the Normandy explodes with Shepard on it. She remembers the silence from her friends, realizing what she did, and the only sound in the escape pod was her, crying.

"Shepard..." she softly says to herself as the pain hits her and she wraps her arms around the picture against her chest as she curls up into a ball, crying once again.

After a hour of crying and two hours of not being able to sleep due to fear of having the nightmare again, Talis omni-tool starts to flash. She pushes a button and a holographic screen pops up showing a Quarian, one of her people, who is wearing a pink and white suit. If it wasn't for his name showing up on the side of the screen, she wouldn't of known who it was. An unfortunate circumstance when you're a Quarian.

"Hey Reegar." Tali says with a yawn.

"Maam..." Kal Reegar starts.

"Kal..." Tali says with a slightly annoyed voice.

"Sorry...Tali."

"That's better. So whats up?" Tali asks.

"A situation has come up. The Admirals would like to see you. I'm to transport you to mission briefing."

"Must be serious."

Tali thinks to herself. "Ok Kal, I'll meet you at the airlock." She says hoping to get five minutes to compose herself.

"Actually, I'm right outside your door...Maam."

Annoyed and exhausted, Tali gets out of bed and walks toward the door. The door opens in front of her revealing Kal and the living quarters on the Neema.

Being the daughter of an Admiral didn't get Tali any special favors, not that she wanted them. She slept in the same area the rest of the crew slept. The corridor of rooms wasn't that long meaning the other rooms were as small as hers. The small living quarters only provided the small rooms and a decontamination room to perform suit repairs. The doors to all the other rooms were opened but she doesn't hear any voices.

_"Must be meal time." _Tali thinks to herself.

"Maam..." Kal says before correcting himself. "I mean Tali."

"Why is it so hard for you to call me Tali? I mean, we grew up together Kal."

"I'm sorry Tali. I guess it becomes natural when you say it all day. Maam...Sir..."

"I never thought about it like that. I'll try not to get onto you anymore about it, ok?"

"Sure...Maam"

Tali and Kal had known each other since they were children. Their fathers had been friends so they spent plenty of time together. As they got older, Kal started training to become a Soldier. Tali decided to learn to be an Engineer. Though their careers sent them in different directions, they spent time together when they had it to spare. Having a friend helps when living on the Flotilla.

When they get past the airlock of the ship where Mission Briefing is located, Tali and Kal are walking through the long Mess Hall where only a small portion of the ships come together for meals. Tables are lined up in rows and they are all filled with Quarian bodies. Suits of different colors were all around Tali and Kal as they walk. Many of them are talking rather loud, making Tali miss what Kal just said.

"I'm sorry Kal, what did you say?" Tali asks in a raised voice.

"Hungry Maam?" Kal asks in the same level of voice as Tali.

"No, I'm fine. I'm more curious as to why I'm going to Mission Briefing."

"I don't know Maam. I was just told to get you and for us both to report in. I did hear the word "rescue" in the background though."

_"Rescue mission? Why me?" _Tali thinks to herself as she starts hearing the whispers.

She starts looking around at the Quarians around her. She will notice one peek at her and then turn away. Then another...then another...  
In no time, the entire mess hall is whispering. Though she can't pin point who is saying what or make out any sentences, the words that are reacurring gives her a good idea what most of them are talking about.

"Room...Screaming...Crying"

Rumors had started circulating through the Migrant Fleet about the sounds coming from Tali's room for the past two years. Sounds of someone deep in mourning...

"Shepard...Normandy...Crew"

Tali puts her hand to her head as the whispers start to bury in her mind.

"Are you ok Tali?" Kal asks when he realizes that Tali has stopped in the middle of all the tables.

"Normandy...Explosion...Tali survived..."

"Sorry Kal. I'm...just..." Tali says in a dazed state before the final words sink in.

"Shepard...Dead...she must of really lov..."

"STOP IT!" Tali yells out as loud as she can.. As her voice rings out through the Mess Hall, the whispers stop and all heads are turned towards her. "If any of you have anything to say to me, you can say it to my face. If you don't have the courtesy to do that, then you can all just shut up!"

Tali quickly walks away as Kal looks around at his fellow Quarians who are still silent. He just shakes his head in disappointment before quickly walking in the direction Tali was going. At the end of the hall was a elevator that led to Mission Briefing. Kal figured that was the only place Tali would have went to. He walks into the elevator and sees Tali with her head in the corner of it.

"Sorry about that Maam. You know our people." He says as he presses the button that makes the elevator go up. "They just don't know when to keep out of others business and when to keep their traps..."

Kal stops mid sentence when he notices Tali crying in the corner. Kal puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Keelah Kal..." Tali says between sobs as she turns and puts her arms around Kal and lays her head on his shoulder. "I miss him so much..."

Kal respectfully wraps his arms around her, acknowledging her need for comfort before he says in a soft voice, "I know you do Tali...I know you do."

Since her father was so distant and since he grew up with her on the Flotilla, Kal had become the shoulder for Tali to cry on when she needed it and someone for her to talk to when it came to personal matters. It's only been a few times that Tali has needed Kal in this compacity. The first time was from the death of Tali's mother. Every other time was due to Shepards death. He had no problem being there for her but due to lack of experience and being the soldier that he is, he didn't really know what to say. When it came to Shepard, a sympathetic hug usually sufficed, but this situation was different. She just yelled at a huge group of her people.

Kal has been the only Quarian she had confide in about Shepard. She knows she can trust him about it. He hates gossip as much as she does.

"I really made a fool out of myself didn't I?" Tali asks as she lets go of Kal.

"They needed to hear that maam."

"I shouldn't of yelled at them though."

"I don't know. I think you got the point across better that way. Sometimes they need a good yelling at to let them know that gossip isn't always a good thing."

Tali laughs a little. "Thanks Kal. Your a good friend."

"I try maam."

"Kal..." Tali says in a kind of playful manner.

"Sorry...Tali." Tali continues to look at him. "I'll work on it."

The elevator door opens to reveal Mission Briefing. There are computers all around the room and in the middle of the room is a table with a holographic map in the middle of it. Standing around the table were three of the Admirals. There was Admiral Korris, Admiral Gerral, and Admiral...

"Auntie Raan!" Tali says with excitement as she walks over and hugs the Admiral wearing the white, brown, and black suit.

"Hello Tali dear." Raan replies as she hugs Tali. "I'm happy you came. You of course know Admiral Han' Gerrel Vas Neema."

"Tali. How has your father been?" Gerrel, the Admiral wearing the white and grey suit, asks as he's watching the map.

"You probably know better than I do, Admiral. He spends all his time working anymore." Tali replies.

"And this is Admiral Zael Korris vas Qwib Qwib." Admiral Raan says as she introduces the other Admiral who is wearing the white and pink suit.

Tali goes over and shakes his hand. "I'm sorry, I don't think we have met yet." Tali says.

"That's quite alright Tali. I just recently became better acquainted with you. " Admiral Korris says as he puts his hands behind his back.

"Really?" Tali asks.

"Sure, Raan here was just telling me about the Geth data that you brought back from your pilgrimage. How it helped upgrade the shields for all the ships and how it added some good detail to our intel about the Geth, helping us better understand our..." Korris looks over at Gerrel. "enemy."

Gerrel looks up over at Korris. Tension was obvious in the air.

"Well, thank you Admiral." Tali says.

"No...thank you Tali. Raan also told me about some experience you have that could possibly help with a situation that has developed over the past hour. Do you know Veetor'Nara?" Korris asks.

"I've heard the name a few times. I've also heard that he has a few mental problems." Tali says.

"Quite right. A few months ago, we allowed him to go on his pilgrimage." Korris turns and points to a spot on the holographic map. An small red indicator glides over to a black circle near the words Terminus System. "Since then, he's been helping a small human colony in the Terminus System known as Freemdom's Progress. Now due to his...problems, we have kept an eye on him and stayed in contact with the colony. An hour ago, we lost contact with Veetor and Freedom's Progress."

Raan then comes in, "Usually this would not be a reason for concern. If this would happen, Veetor would just fix the uplink and we would have communications again. It's been an hour though, and we're starting to worry."

"How can I help?" Tali asks.

"Well, we would like you to take a unit to Freedom's Progress, find out what happened, and if necessary, bring Veetor back home." Korris explains.

"Why me?" Tali asks.

"Other than Veetor, you have more experience with humans than any of us do." Raan adds. "Especially with you experience on the Normandy."

Even if Tali was trying to escape that word, she wouldn't be able to.

Kal then enters the conversation. "I'll get my unit together and meet you at the airlock maam."

"No, Kal..." says Gerrel. "I've got a seperate assignment for you. She can take Prazza and his unit. They will be in the Armory when you're ready to go Tali."

Tali and Kal look at each other. She didn't like the idea of going into a possible hostile situation without someone she trust, especially with a stranger like Prazza.

"Be careful out there maam." says Kal.

"You too, Kal."


	3. The Rescue Mission Pt 2

The Rescue Mission Pt. 2

Tali leaves mission briefing and enters the elevator. She enters a code and the elevator starts its decent.

Tali lets her mind wonder about her current mission and realizes that she doesn't know anything about Freedom's Progress. "_I should have asked for intel before leaving. Shepard would have done that." _Tali thinks to herself.

She then looks down to see her omni-tool flashing. She presses a button on it and a screen pops up with a message from Raan…

"Almost forgot to mention that you will be in charge of this mission. Also, along with this message are details about the colony, Veetor, and Prazza's unit. Good luck Tali and please be careful."

Tali smiles and creates a reply saying "Thank you Raan".

She looks through the files sent to her. The file on Freedom's Progress explains how it's a small colony with minor defenses other than a small military force, mainly consisting of mechs and drones. There is also a map that shows the layout of the area, mostly made up of houses. She then looks over the file on Veetor. It didn't have much more than what Tali already knew other than a note mentioning that Veetor didn't like large crowds. _"Probably the reason he chose to go to Freedom's Progress." _Tali thinks to herself. She then looks over the file of Prazza and his unit. They weren't used very much other than a few scouting missions. His unit consists of ten Quarians: five soldiers, three infiltrators, and two Engineers.

It also turned out that Prazza was involved in the battle with Cerberus, a pro-human splinter group that Tali had a few run ins with during her time with Shepard, when they attacked the Migrant Fleet. After that, he became vocal with his hate of Cerberus, something him and Tali had in common evident from her vocal suggestion to send them away when they came that day under a banner of peace.

The elevator door opens to reveal the Armory. In the Armory, there were tables with different kinds of guns laying on them. There were labels on each table.

"PISTOLS"

"SHOTGUNS"

"SNIPER RIFLES"

"ASSAULT RIFLES"

She goes to the pistol table and picks up an M-3 Predator. Tali checks the pistol to make sure it's in working order. Satisfied with its condition, she then walks over to the shotguns and grabs an M-23 Katana and does the same as she did with the pistol. Quarians always took care of their weapons, obvious from the condition of the weapons. She looks at the other tables and notices empty spaces amongst them. The assault rifle table is almost empty except for one.

"_Prazza's unit must have already taken their picks." _Tali thinks before she hears voices from beyond the room. She goes through the door on her right side.

Prazza and nine other Quarians are in the room checking the equipment and talking. Two male Quarians, one in yellow and one in red, are heard easier than the others.

"Did you hear about what Tali did in the Mess Hall?" the one in red asks.

"Sure did, Raz. Do you think she's finally snapped?"

"It wouldn't surprise me. I feel sorry for her father." Raz says. The other Quarian notices Tali and tries to subtly tell Raz about her without success. "Admiral Rael must be so disappointed to have a daughter like…" he says before he realizes what the other Quarian was trying to hint at. He stopped immediately.

"Go on ahead Raz…finish your sentence. Admiral Rael must be so disappointed to have a daughter like… what exactly?" Tali says in a stern voice.

Raz turns quickly, "Oh…Miss Zorah…I'm sorry…I shouldn't of…It's none of my business…"

"You're right Raz. It is none of your business. It's nobodies business…" Tali meant to just think it but says it out loud instead, "Bosh'tet."

Tali walks away before Raz pushes the other Quarian for not warning him better. She goes over to another Quarian wearing a white and black suit. "Prazza?"

Prazza looks up to see it's Tali. "Tali Zorah…" Prazza says as he puts out his hand in greeting. Tali shakes his hand. "Sorry about that by the way. I'll make sure they're disciplined when we get back."

"Don't worry about it, Prazza." Tali says reassuringly. "I'm sure the embarrassment of being caught is punishment enough. Have you and your unit been told about the mission?"

"We were told that you will be taking the lead and that you would brief us when you got here." Prazza then looks out to his soldiers. "Listen up soldiers! Tali's going to inform us of our mission and she's only going to do it once."

All eyes were on Tali now. She wasn't the most confident person when it came to public speaking but she put her nerves aside. She presses a button on her omni-tool and a larger version of the map that was sent to her from Raan takes up the room.

"This is Freedom's Progress…a human colony in the Terminus System and the last known location of one of our people, Veetor'Nara." Tali explains. "About an hour ago, all contact with Veetor and the Colony went dark. The mission is simple…we are going to take a ship to Freedom's Progress, find Veetor, and if necessary, bring Veetor home to the Flotilla. Any questions?"

"Could it just be a problem with the communication equipment?" one of the female squadmates asks.

"If it was a problem with the equipment, Veetor would have fixed it by now." Tali answers. "Since communications are still down, the Admirals have dismissed that possibility. If that is the case though, we'll fix it and be on our way."

"Should we assume hostiles will be present?" Raz asks.

"We can't assume anything. We have no idea what's going on there. So until hostiles are confirmed, keep the safeties on and let me do the talking." Tali answers with authority. "Anything else?" Nobody speaks. "Ok, it will take a few hours to get there. Grab some extra nutrient packs and extra medi-gel just in case. We leave in five."

Tali is back on the Normandy again. This time she is in the living quarters. They had just escaped the Citadel, against C-Sec, the Council, and Ambassadors Udinas orders, and were heading for Ilos to stop Saren. She kind of felt a rush of excitement from the disobedience.

It had been a few hours since they plotted the course that Tali realized something. They were about to face an army of Geth, a rogue spectre, and a reaper. The crew was extremely talented, already achieving what would seem impossible for such a small crew but the odds against them were overwhelming and the possibility of death was unfortunately high.

She then looked towards Shepards room…

"_No…he's already has enough on his mind." _She thinks to herself but she can't remove the thought from her mind. She wanted to experience that kind of…intimacy at least once before she dies. She didn't feel that way a month ago. A month ago all she worried about was finding something valuable to bring back to the Flotilla, something that could help her people. Shepard changed all that when he entered her life.

She looks towards Shepards room again…

"_No! Stop it Tali. The mission comes first." _She thinks to herself, worrying about these selfish desires that she's having. _"What if I were to get sick? What if he's too worried about me getting hurt, that he hurts himself to protect me during the mission? If anything would happen to him, the crew would lose their morale and we would fail. The needs of the galaxy outweigh my wants." _She tries to convince herself, but fails.

Evident from her looking towards Shepards room again…

"_Would it even be possible? I could take an hour to do research on it. I'm sure Quarians have been intimate with humans before. If it comes to my immune system, I imagine Dr. Chakwas has what I would need to make my system stronger. I have never trusted anyone like I trust Shepard. If these are going to be my last few hours alive…I want them to be with him."_

She starts walking towards his door. She tries to walk slowly but it doesn't take long before she's right in front of it.

"_I might as well be sure first. What am I even going to say?"_

Before she can knock though, she hears a sound coming from the other side of the door. She puts her ear closer to the door where the sound becomes unmistakable.

Ashley was in there…and so was Shepard…and the sounds were their voices making it obvious they didn't want to be disturbed.

Tali, disappointed in herself for bringing her hopes up so high, walks away from the door and heads for the drive core before she wakes up, back on the ship she was on before she went to sleep. She starts to cry again.

After an hour, Prazzas voice is heard over the intercom of the ship.

"Tali, we are twenty minutes away from Freedom's Progress."

Once they were past the relay for the Vallhallan Threshold, Tali told Prazza to inform her if there were any problems during the trip or when they were close to Freedom's Progress. There were no problems at all during the past few hours. _"I'll have to mention that in the report" _Tali thinks to herself as she thinks of how well Prazza and his squad did the entire time_. _"Get your team ready Prazza. I'll be up shortly."

Five minutes later, she heads to the bridge to find Prazza and eight of the nine members of his team, one of the engineers is piloting the ship, are checking their gear and weapons.

Raz and his fellow infiltrators are looking over their sniper rifles and testing their tactical cloaks, Dis, the other engineer in green, is checking something on her omni-tool with a pistol at her side, and the soldiers are sorting out grenades with their assault rifles on their backs. They look like their getting ready for anything.

"Remember, finding Veetor is our top priority." Tali explains to the crew. "We find him and extract him if necessary and no weapon fire until I say so."

"Miss Zorah, can you come to the cockpit? There is something you might want to see." The pilot asks over the radio.

"_Keelah... I was hoping this was going to be a problem free mission." _Tali thinks to herself as she makes her way to the cockpit. She arrives and asks, "Is there something wrong, Kar?"

Kar turns around in his chair to confirm its Tali. He's wearing a blue and yellow suit. "I did a scan of Freedom's Progress and the results just came in."

"And they were?"

A map of the colony pops up and shows only one blue dot. "We're reading only one life sign."

"It must be wrong." Tali says. "Try it again and I will try to link to Veetors omni-tool."

Tali gets in the co-pilots chair and goes to work on the keyboard in front of her. After a few minutes, she finds Veetor. She then gets out her omni-tool and works on it. After a few seconds, Tali brings up the map that Raan gave her. It has a blue dot on it as well at the exact location it was at on Kar's map. _"Keelah…He's the only one there?" _Tali thinks to herself.

"We're still showing only one life sign, Miss Zorah." Kar says to Tali.

"_Why is Veetor the only one there?" _Tali thinks before she comes to a terrible possibility. _"Did he… go insane and kill everybody?"_

"We're coming up on the landing zone." Kar announces over the radio.

As they are going in, Tali looks to where they are going and then looks at her map and realizes that Veetor is at the landing zone. _"Maybe this will be an easy mission."_

Freedom's Progress is in view. Tali looks past the windows in front of her and can see the landing pad. She also notices a male Quarian wearing a dark pink and white suit, scanning one of the mechs with his omni-tool.

"There's Veetor!" Tali exclaims. "Maybe I can get through to his omni-tool." She presses a few buttons on her omni-tool and she hears Veetor talking, his voice sounding maniacal.

"Mechs will protect. They are coming back for me. I have to hi…They're here!"

Tali looks down at Veetor and notices that he's looking up at their ship. He's holding his arm. _"He must have a suit rupture." _

"Have to hide!" Veetor yells before he starts running in the opposite direction of the landing zone and back into the colony. Tali tries to talk to him through her omni-tool.

"Veetor'Nara, this is Tali'Zorah vas Neema. I am on the Quarian ship you just saw. We are here to help you."

Tali looks up to see Veetor still running. "_He isn't listening."_ As the ship lands, she gets out of the pilot chair. She notices Kar attempting to do so as well. "No Kar. Stay here and keep the ship going. We may need a quick exit."

"Yes, maam." Kar replies.

Tali runs to the exit hatch of the ship and sees the rest of the crew are there waiting. She looks over at Prazza.

"Veetor has a suit rupture. We need to find him as soon as possible." Tali says to her crew in a hurried voice. "Get weapons ready!"

Tali gets her pistol out and has it at her side as the hatch opens. All ten Quarians pour out with Tali taking the lead. It seems Kips readings were right. No humans have come to greet them or attack them.

Tali goes over to the mech that Veetor was scanning. She scans it with her omni-tool.

"It looks like Veetor was trying to reprogram this mech." Tali explains to Prazza.

"Reprogram it to do what?" Prazza asks.

"He wasn't able to finish what he was trying to accomplish, but it seems Veetor was making modifications to its targeting system." Tali says before realizing what Veetor was trying to do. "We may need to proceed with caution."

"Who knows how long Veetor has had that injury. We need find him now." Prazza exclaims.

"I agree Prazza but this colonies defenses are made up mostly of these mechs. Seeing how Veetor reacted to us and the fact that we haven't seen anybody else, we have to assume something terrible happened here. Veetor sounded scared. He probably programmed these mechs to attack anything that moved, to protect him."

Her theory was about to prove true as a group of three mechs appear with pistols and smgs held out in front of them from the colony. The red U in their black faces light up. "Hostiles detected"

Remembering what Shepard would say in this situation, Tali instinctually yells out "Everyone get to cover!"

Most of the squad gets to cover before the bullets start to fly. One of the soldiers got shot in the shoulder.

"So about that safety policy, Miss Zorah?" Raz asks sarcastically.

"Consider it temporarily lifted smartass!" Tali yells at Raz. "Wait for them to reload!"

The mechs reach the end of their clips and start to reload. Raz peeks out with his M-97 Viper, aims, and takes out one with a head shot. Dis overloads one causing it to explode before Tali takes the last one out with her pistol.

"Please tell me that wasn't it." Raz yells out. "That wasn't even a chall…Oh crap!"

Raz quickly jumps out of the way before a rocket hits the ground near where he was standing.

Tali looks up in the direction where the rocket came from and sees an entire squadron of ten or more combat drones coming their way.

"Plan Tali?" Prazza asks

Tali thinks as the rockets continue blasting their position "We need to get into the colony Prazza." She looks over at Dis. "You and I are going to hack as many drones as we can." Dis nods. She then looks to Raz who is checking his suit. "Are you ok Raz?"

"No ruptures maam." Raz answers.

"We're going to make a run for the colony and get into the first house we find. Whatever drones Dis and I can hack should buy us some time but once the hacked drones are destroyed, their attention will be back on us. Prazza…you, Raz and I will take up the rear and keep them distracted. Dis, you take the lead and take cover in the first house you find."

Tali then looks to the wounded soldier, "Can you run?"

He nods towards her. Tali then peeks over her cover and sees the squadron of drones in front of their position, waiting. "On my signal, Dis." Tali gets her omni-tool ready. She looks over to see Dis has done the same. The screen on Tali's omni-tool shows a mass of dots. She touches one of the dots in the center. The dot enlarges showing the statistics of the selected drone.

Rocket propelled weaponry, flight capable, attack hostiles are a few details shown. Tali notices there is no protection from hacking. She could probably hack the entire group if she had more time, but Veetors injury gave them a limited amount. She alters it to attack friendlies.

"Do it!" Tali yells before Dis and her press a button.

It's silent for a moment before the sound of rocket fire and explosions break the silence.

"GO...GO!" Tali yells before the squad, except for Raz, herself, and Prazza, start running. Once the rest of the squad is out, Tali, Raz, and Prazza run out. Tali looks towards the drones and see they are still fighting amongst themselves.

Dis gets to one of the houses, hacks the door to open, and enters. The rest of the squad follows behind her.

Tali is watching the drones while walking backwards towards the house with her pistol aimed at them. Four of the drones are still intact, but are just hovering in the air. "_Those must be the hacked ones" _Tali thinks to herself. She then looks to see Prazza and Raz have entered the house. She turns to do the same before…

"Tali! Watch out!"

She hears Raz's voice and then looks towards the drones. Two rockets are coming right at her. Tali closes her eyes…

After a few moments, Tali realizes nothing's happening. She opens her eyes and sees the rockets right in front of her…but they're not moving. She notices they are surrounded by a blue kind of energy. The same kind of energy she saw when biotic powers were being used. _"Liara?" _she asks herself before she hears…an unmistakable voice.

"TALI…MOVE!"

Tali hears the command and wants to comply but is paralyzed from shock. The only part of her body she can move is her neck but she uses the only working muscle in her body to look to her right…in the direction the words came from.

Tali sees him…The brown hair…The green eyes...The scar that went down from his forehead, over his right eye, and ended at the cheek…the face that has haunted her for two years was running towards her with his hand stretched out towards the rockets.

"She…Shepard?"


	4. Awake Pt 1

Images start to flutter the Commanders mind as he gasps for the last bits of oxygen available while floating in space. The images consisted of his parents, playing in a field with friends, seeing the golden brown eyes and brown hair of a girl he was sweet on, kissing that same girl, homes on fire, people being murdered, people being taken, the cold dead stare of his parents, his hands squeezing the throat of a Batarian, waking up in Grissom Academy, enlisting with the Alliance Military, fighting in the Skyllian Blitz, joining the Normandy, meeting Kaiden, the beacon, meeting Ash, Garrus, Wrex…Tali…Liara, watching an explosion that killed Kaiden, his night with Ash, fighting Saren and Sovereign, saving the council, fighting Geth, taking a picture with Garrus and…Tali…saving…Tali…the Normandy exploding.

"_Well...there's one re…"_

The lack of oxygen makes the last word a mystery. He sees an explosion of light in front of him. For a moment, he tries to fight it but realizes it's impossible. Then there is only darkness.

Suddenly the images return, this time ending with an image of a chair…a long metal chair. The sound of his painful screams breaks the silence…

Gabriel Shepard sits up in a bed, gasping for air. He's met with a headache, a loud, high pitched beeping sound, and lungs full of oxygen. Confused by the sudden intake of what was restricted to him moments ago, he looks around at his surroundings.

The room was all white. He looks down to see he's wearing a pair of white hospital scrubs but bear chested. Beside him to his left was a computer that had cords going into his arm and chest and seemed to be the direction the high pitched beeping sound was coming from. On a desk to his right was a computer. He then looks straight in front of him to see a long mirror that takes up most of the wall.

Looking in the mirror he notices changes to his looks. His short brown hair now reached his shoulders. Hair covered his chin and jaw. His scar on the right side of his face was still there but other scars had joined it. An orange light could be seen coming from the open spaces of them. He looked hard at his green eyes, happy to see he is who he felt he was.

Gabriel takes a deep breath and slowly pulls the cords out of his arm. He then grabs the cords in his chest and pulls them out. The computer was still beeping and wasn't helping the headache, so he grabs it and throws it against a wall. The beeping stops.

He then looks over to the desk. Shepard puts one foot down on the ground and puts weight on it. He instantly falls. His legs are numb. He grunts loudly as he reaches for the bed. He pulls himself up before, to his surprise, he finds renewed strength in his legs. He stands up and though it's still hard for him, he walks to the desk and sits in the chair.

On the computer is an image Shepard had never seen before. It was a white oval with an orange line on both sides that come to a point at the bottom. He presses a button and the image appears again but with icons on it. One of the icons says "Video Journal 20". Shepard opens it and a woman with long black hair and blue eyes appears…

"After two years and massive spending, I have accomplished what The Illusive Man has set me out to do. The Lazarus Project is a success. Cerberus…"

"_Cerberus…" _Gabriel thinks to himself as the video continues in the background. Then the memories start to come back.

Cerberus…A former black op with the Alliance Military that went rogue…Terrorists…did experiments on Thorian Creepers and Rachni…and the reason for Admiral Kahokus death.

"_And now I'm in one of their labs..." _Shepard thinks as he gets out of the chair. He looks around…"_No windows…"_ He sees a door beside the mirror. He goes over to it and attempts to open it. The red light in the middle of it beeps at him. "_Must be locked." _He slams his fist on the door before the same voice that was talking on the video journal enters the room but the face is no where to be seen.

"Commander Shepard, my name is Miranda Lawson. I would like to ask you to stay calm and lie back down on the bed so we can replace your equipment."

Shepard looks around and sees no cameras. He then looks at the mirror…

"I wake up here…in a Cerberus lab…and you expect me to remain calm?" Shepard yells at the mirror.

"Shepard...Listen to me…"

"No you listen! Open this door now! You don't want me to find my own exit." Shepard exclaims.

"There is no need for violence Shepard. No one here is trying to hurt you…" Miranda says before another voice joins in.

"The doors locked Miranda. He has no way to get out."

"Shut up Wilson! He has an L5n implant." Miranda tries to say quietly but can still be heard in the room.

"Not trying to hurt me? Did Cerberus say that to Admiral Kahoku before they killed him? You have five seconds…" Shepard demands.

"You haven't fully healed from the work we have done on you Shepard…"

"FIVE!"

"Kahoku was an unfortunate…"

"FOUR!"

"Hit the alarm Wilson!"

"Three…Two…ONE!"

Shepard starts to run towards the mirror before he yells and is shot forward at massive speed in a blue laser like light, smashing through the mirror and into the room beyond.

The room looks similar to the one he was in except for the black and red stropping lights. He looks back to see the mirror he went through was now a window. "_Two way mirror."_

"Stay back!"

Shepard looks to his side to see a bald man wearing a black, grey, and white jumpsuit, with the same image he saw on the computer on the chest, pointing a gun at him.

"Put the gun down Wilson! The Illusive Man wants him alive!"

Shepard looks back to see a woman on the floor looking towards Wilson. She's wearing a white, skin tight, outfit with black boots and black gloves. She had the same face as the woman on the computer. A gunshot is heard…

Shepard is holding out his arm and a blue aura surrounds his body. He has no wounds from the bullet Wilson just shot. Blue energy then surrounds Wilsons gun. Shepard moves his arm to the side and the gun goes flying out of Wilsons hands. Shepard then stretches out his other arm towards Wilson. Wilson is now covered with the blue energy. Shepard raises his arm and Wilsons body follows it in to the air. Shepard then swiftly brings his arm down and Wilson falls at massive speed, head first. His face smashes into the ground, followed by the rest of his body, breaking his neck.

Miranda, with a frightened look on her face, attempts to run to a door on the right side of the room.

"Not so fast." Shepard says before stretching his arm out towards Miranda. She stops as the biotic energy surrounds her. Shepard raises his arm, lifting Miranda in the air. He moves her towards a wall and roughly pushes her against it. He then bioticly charges in front of her and wraps his hand around her neck, holding her against the wall. "It's time to answer some questions, Miranda. First off, where am I and what system am I in?"

"Horsehead Nebula…You're on a station made for the Lazarus Project…" she says between gasped breaths.

"What is the Lazarus Project? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?"

"This station…this project…was created to bring you back to life." Miranda answers.

"Was it Cerberus that destroyed the Normandy?"

"No…"

"Then who was it?" Shepard asks.

"I don't kn…"

Shepard pulls back his arm. His hand starts to gather the blue biotic energy. He then punches through the wall right beside Mirandas head. He pulls his hand out of the wall and starts gathering the energy again. "I suggest you really believe your next try, Miranda."

"I really don't know Shepard." Miranda says with a panicked voice. "If I did, I would tell you."

Shepard brings her face closer to his, staring right in her eyes.

"I believe you…So I guess I need to find someone who does know."

Shepard releases his grip on Mirandas throat and she falls to her knees, choking. Shepard looks towards the door Miranda ran for. He goes through.

Shepard runs through the station for a few moments before noticing a layout of the station on one of the walls. He sees an area that's labeled "Shuttle Bay". He realizes he's going the right way before Mirandas voice is heard through the atrium.

"We are at code red. I repeat…we are at code red. Gabriel Shepard has escaped. He is unarmed but still extremely dangerous and should be approached with caution. The Illusive Man wants the Commander alive, so no live ammunition and no mechs. Stun guns and stun prods only. We have trained for this so go by the book. He's currently in the atrium."

The door that leads to the Shuttle Bay opens and guards wearing white armor enter the room. Ten men stand in front of the door before one wearing black enters. "Locking the door." The one in black says as he brings up his omni-tool. The once green light in the middle of the door now turns red.

"Commander Shepard…surrender now and you won't be harmed." One of the guards says.

"Sure."

"Really?" The guard says in a confused voice.

"Why not? Let me just put my hands up…" Gabriel says as he stretches his arm towards the vocal guard. Biotic energy surrounds the man before Gabriel swings his arm to the side making the guard fly and slam against a wall with massive force, knocking him out. The other men look at Gabriel as biotic energy gathers around his hands. A smirk shows on his face…"Next…"

The guards pull out their stun guns and prods and charge towards Gabriel. He yells and throws his arm out towards the guards coming towards him. Four of them are thrown to the sides. Gabriel stretches his arm out towards one of the guards who was hit by the shockwave while they're still in the air, and throws him at the two guards on the left. The three guards on the right run up to Gabriel. Two have prods…one has a gun. Gabriel grabs one of the prods with his mind, and throws it at the guard with the stun guns neck. The man spasms as electric currents run through his body.

The one that had the prod tries to punch Gabriel. He swiftly ducks under the arm before gathering energy into his hand and punches the guard in the chest, making him fly to the other side of the atrium. The last of the three guards tries to hit Gabriel with a prod. Gabriel biotically charges a foot to the side to dodge it before gathering biotic energy in his leg. He kicks the guard in the midsection, making him fly as well.

One of the guards hit by the thrown body gets up and pulls out his stun gun. He aims at Gabriel and pulls the trigger. Gabriel notices and biotically charges to the side. The shot misses before Gabriel grabs the guard with his mind, lifts the guard into the air, and slams the guard down in front of him. The guard is on his stomach in pain before Gabriel jumps with his biotically charged fist in the air and slams it down on the guards back. Gabriels hand goes through the armor and the sound of the guard's spine snapping is heard throughout the atrium.

Gabriel looks around to see nobody moving, except for the guard in black by the door, whose shaking while pointing a pistol at Gabriel. Gabriel walks toward him. The guard shoots the gun but the bullet is deflected by Gabriels barriers. Gabriel grabs the gun with his mind, turns the gun around, and points it at the engineer. The gun jabs the engineer a couple of times in the chest and fires off a warning shot before the engineer puts his back against the wall by the door. The gun stays in place right in front of the engineers face while Gabriel walks up to him. Gabriel lifts up his arm and starts pressing buttons on his omni-tool. When done, Gabriel pushes the omni-tool against the door where the red light is. After a few moments, the red light turns green and Gabriel releases the engineers arm.

"Didn't Miranda say not to bring live ammunition?" Gabriel asks the engineer as the door opens. "I think that's grounds for termination."

Gabriel walks through the door before a gun shot is heard. The sounds of dead weight and a pistol falling to the floor come shortly after.

After running towards the direction of the Shuttle Bay for a few minutes, Shepard comes to a long hallway and finds a large door with the words "Shuttle Bay" above it. He runs towards the door until he feels something coming from behind him. He gathers energy into his hand and turns around. A white table is flying right at him. It hits him and he falls to the ground with the table on top of him. He pushes the table off of him and sits up.

On the other side of the hallway is a black man wearing a black set of light armor. He has short black hair, brown eyes, and a black mustache. He's holding an M-21 Predator and the blue biotic energy is seen surrounding him, but not because of Gabriel.

"Nice move there. How about you try it when your opponent is actually looking at you?" Gabriel says to the man.

"Sorry Shepard. I can't let you go through that door." The man says

"Well, you have some guts. Is there a name that goes along with them or should I call you "Dead Guard Number Four" after we're done here?"

"Jacob Taylor, Cerberus security and former Alliance Military, and nobody here is trying to hurt you Shepard."

"So evident from the pistol you're holding…"

"Disruptor rounds…a prototype that some of the lab rats here were experimenting with. One gives you a nice little jolt. More than one will put you down but it won't kill you. Of course it was a side project. The real reason for this place was to bring you back to life Shepard. Do you not understand that? If Cerberus wanted you dead, they wouldn't have used up so many resources to bring you back."

"Yeah I get it. Cerberus wanted me back, but for what reason?" Shepard asks.

"Stop fighting us and you'll find out."

"Sorry Jacob. I've seen what Cerberus has done and I don't trust them. Now you seem like a good kid so I'm going to give you some advice. Stay out of my way and get away from Cerberus while you can."

Shepard turns to walk towards the door until a gun shot is heard. Shepard looks at the door in front of him. There is a bullet hole with electricity coming from it.

"I mean it Shepard…don't take another step."

"Try to stop me…I dare you."

Shepard starts walking again before another gunshot is heard. This one connects hits Shepards shoulder. He feels the tiny amount of electricity course through his arm. Shepard shakes his arm out and starts gathering energy to his hand. He turns around towards Jacob.

"That was a mistake Jacob."

Shepard starts running towards Jacob and his entire body is covered with biotic energy. Shepard lets out a primal scream when he's halfway and starts to use his biotic charge…

"NOW MIRANDA!" Jacob yells out.

Shepard slams into a wall that's right in front of Jacob. Confused, Shepard turns around and sees the Shuttle Bay door. He goes to run for it before another wall comes up that he runs into. Then two walls appear on both sides of him. The only way out is above him, in which is taken away when the roof slides across the top. Shepard then hears Jacob say something on the other side…

"Release the gas."

A grey smoke starts spraying from the ground below Shepard and starts filling the small room created around him. Shepard starts coughing and feels the numbness spread throughout his body. He falls to the ground…unable to move. The walls slide back down into the floor from where they came. He is able to see and hear, he just can't move or talk. Jacob comes into his limited view and squats down beside him.

"Don't worry Shepard. Everything is going to be fine." Jacob says in a muffled voice as Miranda also appears.

"Get him ready for transport. The Illusive Man is ready to talk."


	5. Awake Pt 2

Gabriel Shepard wakes up. His body was upright so the first thing he catches a glimpse of is a panel on the floor. It felt like he was hovering over it. The large circular panel was grey with a blue circle outlining it and a large black circle outlining that. He also sees that he is still bare chested and still wearing the hospital scrubs he was wearing on the Lazarus Station.

He lifts his head up and hears bones pop in it. He moves his head around in a circular motion so he can stretch out his neck. "How long have I been out?"

He looks around in front of him to see that he is in a dark grey room. The only light in the room was coming from a unidentified source behind him and the blue outline of the panel he was hovering over.

Gabriel starts to notice the sore feelings in his arms, as if they were stretched out. He looks to his right and sees that his arm is stretched out and that it was covered from his elbow to his hand with a large, sleek, plastic, egg shape, casing that was attached to some kind of rope to the ceiling. He looks to the left and sees the same with his other arm. He looks down and sees the same has happened to his legs from his knees to his feet. He made a human X in the air over the panel.

Gabriel starts to struggle, trying to get out of the contraption. After a few moments of struggling, a small but effective electrical current is felt in his hands and feet that travels to the center of his body. He clenches his teeth as the currents continue until his muscles relax.

He then looks up at the white casings around his limbs and notices there is a less than an inch gap on the sides of each of them. "How about biotics?" He closes his eyes and reaches out to one of the casings with his mind. He tries to wedge it open until another set of currents start rolling through his body again, this one more painful than the last. The electricity stops and his muscles relax again. He's breathing heavily until he hears a familiar voice.

"Finally awake Commander Shepard?"

The woman walked in to his view.

"Hello Miranda. I wouldn't of taken you for the BSM type..." Gabriel says before he looks at her outfit. "Actually scratch that. So where's the whip?"

Miranda laughs to herself a little and a little red shows in her cheeks. "This isn't an interogation Shepard, especially not that kind."

"Damn...I"ve seen vids but never my cup of tea. Though I would prefer it over electrical torture." Shepard says.

"Just a safety procaution Shepard. After two dead, three injured, five wounded, and one traumatized you can never be to careful."

Shepard laughs out loud. "Traumatized? Which one was that?"

"The engineer."

"That bullet was just inches from his head. He should just be happy he's alive..." Gabriel then jets his body forward to where he's face to face with Miranda. "As you should be."

The casings around Gabriels limbs force his body back to where it was before the currents start traveling again. He smiles at Miranda as his teeth clenches. Miranda lifts up her omni-tool and presses a button. A model of a male body appears over the omni-tool.

"What are you doing?" Shepard asks.

"Scanning your implants. I'm making sure you didn't damage any of them during your little temper tantrum." Miranda answers.

"I feel fine."

"Well after two years and millions upon millions of credits, I would rather be sure. It looks like your fine. From your little demonstration at the station, it seems your combat ability is still there if not advanced quite a bit, especially your biotics..."

"Yeah...I even have to admit that was a bit unexpected. Was it not part of my upgrades?" Shepard says.

"No... but you used it as if you always had it." Miranda says

Suddenly, the image of the long metal chair appears in Shepards mind again along with the screams. Shepard shakes his head. "I don't know. It felt familiar and foreign at the same time...if that makes any sense."

"I'll have to add that to my notes and I'll do some research on it. For now...my boss would like to speak with you, Shepard."

"The Illusive Man? Where is he?"

"You'll see him in a moment." The image of the male body disappears from Mirandas omni-tool. "He's ready for you."

Miranda walks out of the room. Suddenly a orange, circular, holograph comes out of the panel below Gabriel and circles around him. Now he is looking at a dark room with a window that goes almost the entire northern wall. Beyond the window, is a gas giant that has mainly red flames shooting from it but with a bit of blue in the middle. Also in the room, in front of the window, are orange screens. Shepard can't tell whats on them, but he can see faces on them. One of them looks like a Krogan. Then sitting in a chair in front of the screens and the window, there's a man sitting in a chair wearing a black and white suit. He has dark brown hair that is combed to the left. A few white streaks are seen in it. He's smoking a cigarette and holding a glass with brown liquid inside it. The thing that stood out most to Shepard were the eyes. "Those blue...cybernetic like eyes...they seem kind of famil..."

"Commander Shepard..." The man finally says.

"So...You must be The Illusive Man..." 


	6. The Rescue Mission Pt 3

Tali watches Gabriel running towards her. He vanishes and suddenly reappears in front of her. They both fall down after Shepard pushes her out of the way of the rockets coming towards her. The rockets are released from their invisible grip and land a short distance behind them. Shepard brings Tali in close, shielding her from the explosion.

"_Oh Keelah, I guess I have snapped. How is this possible? I watched the Normandy explode with him still on it. He should be dead but he's right here, holding me in his arms." _Tali thinks to herself as Gabriel stands up. The orange of the flames highlight his black N7 armor. He lends her a hand and she almost instinctively obliges while not taking her eyes off of him, worried that if she does, Gabriels face will disappear. "_I have to be sure."_

"Shepard…is that…is that really you?" She asks as she puts a hand to his cheek, making sure she wasn't hallucinating.

Shepard thinks for a moment. "Remember that Geth data Tali? Did it help you with your pilgrimage?"

Tali wraps her arms around Gabriels neck and lays her head on his chest. She didn't care what was going on around her, but it took all her strength not to start crying. "Yes…Yes it did."

Gabriel wraps his arms around Talis waist and returns the embrace. "I'm happy to see you too, Tali. Are you ok?"

"I'll live." She releases him from her arms and takes a few steps back. "How are you he…"

Before Tali can finish her question, a voice comes out and breaks the moment. "Get Back!" It was Prazza and Tali remembers her squad. She looks back and sees all nine of her people pointing guns in Shepards direction.

"Put your weapons down! This is Commander Shepard!" Tali says with authority.

"And the two Cerberus operatives with him?" Prazza asks.

"What are you talking…" Tali tries to ask as she turns and sees a man wearing black, light armor to Shepards right and a woman in a white, tight outfit on his left, both pointing guns in her direction. They both have Cerberus emblems on their chest. "_Why is…wait. This could get bad."_

Shepard then looks to both sides and realizes what's going on. "Put your weapons down! Tali's a friend." The man and woman comply.

"We're not taking chances with Cerberus operatives!" Prazza yells.

"Put your weapons down all of you! That is an order!" Tali yells back.

Tali could tell that if it wasn't for his mask, she would see the angry look on Prazzas face. She knows of his history with Cerberus and understands why he doesn't want to do anything but blow them away. "_I feel the same way, but with Shepard…" _Finally, Prazza puts his weapon away and signals to the rest to do the same.

"Why is your old commander working with Cerberus?" Prazza asks.

The same question has been going through her mind as well. _"He's seen what they are capable of first hand. Why is he with them?" _She then looks at the woman with black hair wearing the extremely tight outfit. "_Especially with her?"_

"I don't know Prazza…" She then remembers the wounded squad member. She looks for him and finds him leaning against the house they had entered, still bleeding. "How about we get into some cover before more drones arrive so you can take care of your soldier and then we can all talk about it?"

Prazza nods and everybody enters the house, including Gabriel and his two squad members. Dis helps the wounded soldier to a couch and starts applying medi-gel. Tali looks towards a door on the west wall and then looks at Raz.

"Raz, I need you to cloak up and see what's going on through that door."

"Yes maam. By the way, I'm glad you're ok and sorry about before." Raz then looks at Gabriel. "Sorry about drawing on you Shepard. Orders you know…"

"Quit drooling Raz and follow your orders." Prazza says behind him.

"Don't worry about it, Raz. I understand." Gabriel says reassuringly.

Raz nods and then presses a button on his omni-tool. He disappears into the walls and floor. If it wasn't for being there the moment before, no one would know where he was. The door on the west wall opens and then closes.

Tali looks to Gabriel. "So Shepard…How are you here?"

Gabriel explains to Tali how Cerberus spent two years and vast amounts of credits to bring him back to life. Since the commander's death, human colonies had started vanishing. Cerberus brought Gabriel back to investigate the disappearances.

Once Tali ensured Prazza that the money Cerberus spent on Shepard was "well spent", Tali told Shepard about her and her squads mission on Freedoms Progress. She told him about Veetor, his injury, and that he was the one who reprogrammed the mechs. Suddenly the door to the south of them opens seemingly by itself. The door then closes and Raz appears out of thin air.

"How does it look like out there Raz?" Tali asks.

"We are completely surrounded, Miss Zorah. The drones are just waiting for us to leave."

"We should team up to find Veetor." Gabriel suggests.

"Agreed. We'll need two teams to get past the drones anyway." Tali says.

"Now we're working with Cerberus?" Prazza asks in an angry voice.

"No Prazza, you're working for me. If you can't take orders, go back to the ship." Tali says before she looks over to the wounded soldier. "How's the wound?"

"I'm fine. I can still aim and fire my weapon." The soldier replies.

Tali looks back to Gabriel. "We'll take the far side and keep the drones off of you while you make your way to Veetor." Tali holds up her omni-tool and presses a few buttons. Gabriels omni-tool blinks. "I just sent his location to your omni-tool."

Shepard checks his omni-tool. "Sounds good. Make sure to keep in radio contact."

"Will do and whatever happens…It's good to have you back." Tali says as she quickly turns and walks towards the door where her squad has massed. She looks back to Shepard. "_Please don't die on me again."_

"Tali!" Prazza yells, snapping Tali back into the moment. She shakes her head.

"Prazza…you, I, Raz, and Dis are going to provide covering fire for the rest of the squad until they can find cover. When they get to safety, they can provide cover for us." Tali says as she brings up her omni-tool. The map appears above it with a blue dot on it. "That is where Veetor is. Let's get him so we can get him home."

The entire squad readies their weapons. The soldier in front opens the door.

The drones react fast, as does Tali, Prazza, Raz, and Dis as they start firing at the drones. The rest of the squad moves up and finds cover. The other six squad mates start firing to allow Tali, Prazza, Raz, and Dis to move up.

Tali notices a squad of the drones fly away. While in cover, Tali looks to her omni-tool and looks at the map. She notices that the drones are headed in Gabriels direction. "_A few drones aren't going to take down Shepard…but still…" _

"Shepard, a squadron of drones broke off from us and is headed your way." Tali announces over the radio.

"Thanks for the heads up Tali." Shepard says

"Alright squad, let's go!" Prazza suddenly yells before him and six of the squad, including the wounded soldier, stand up and start running forward.

"Wait Prazza!" Tali yells but it was no use. Prazza and the six others were gone. She quickly gets on her radio. "Prazza, what are you doing?"

"I'm not going to let Cerberus take Veetor because you have a crush on the Commander!"

"Shepard won't let them hurt Veetor. I know he wouldn't."

"But he is more than willing to ally himself with Cerberus? Sorry Tali. I can't take that risk." Prazza says before the radio goes static.

She looks around and notices that Raz and Dis was still with her. She also noticed that the drones must have gone after Prazza. Tali gets on her radio. "Shepard, Prazza and most of his squad went ahead of me. I told him to wait but he didn't listen. He's trying to get to Veetor before you." She then looks to Raz and Dis. "We need to find Veetor before he does something stupid!"

Tali, Raz, and Dis run in the direction Prazza went. They start seeing destroyed drones litter the ground they're running on. "_At least Prazza isn't having problems with the drones." _Tali looks in the direction of Shepard and his squad. Drones are exploding in midair at about the same pace Tali, Raz, and Dis are running at. _"Impressive as always."_

Once they past the last of the drone rubble, Tali and her companions finally locate Prazza. He and his squad are advancing on the location Veetor's at. There was a non-active heavy mech standing in front of the building. Prazza and his squad continue advancing before the heavy mech makes a sound.

The mech then starts to move its massive frame and the red U in its face appears. It aims one arm at one of the Quarian soldiers and fires its gun. The soldier falls dead. The mech looks at the rest of Prazzas squad before Prazza yells "RUN!" They start running to the side of the building and the mech starts following.

"We have to help them!" Tali yells. Tali attempts to run toward the mech before Raz grabs her by the shoulder.

"Prazza and the others are not going to make it! There is no point in putting ourselves in danger." Raz says as Dis nods in agreement.

"They are our people Raz! I'm not going to just watch them die!" Tali yells.

"How can you help our people if your dead? I know how important the work you and your father are doing for us is and you know it too! Think about what Shepard would do."

"_How does he know about what my father is doing?" _Tali thinks to herself. She then realizes there's no time to think about it. Her people are in danger.

"Shepard would help them…and maybe he can. Come on!" Tali yells before running towards one of the houses to the side. Dis and Raz follow her. They exit the other side of the house and find themselves at an open lot with buildings surrounding it. "Tali brings up her map and sees that Shepard is heading towards a door across the lot from her. The door is locked. She gets on the radio. "Shepard, Veetor has reprogrammed a heavy mech! It's going to tear Prazzas squad apart! We're at the loading docks. Please hurry!"

"We're on the other side of the door leading to you but it's locked." Gabriel says over the radio.

Tali lifts up her omni-tool and points it towards the door. The red light in the middle of the massive door turns green just as Prazzas squad comes from the side of the building Veetors is in. They are firing on the heavy mech but they have no where to take cover, their bullets aren't doing any damage, and Shepard hasn't gotten there yet. _"We're too late…"_

Tali, Raz, and Dis run into the building next to them. Tali looks out of one of the windows and sees her squad still trying to hold off the mech. Then the mech opened fire…

After the first Quarian, the wounded soldier, falls to the mechs chain gun, Tali turns away. She can't see them being slaughtered, but the sounds of their screams fill her ears and her mind. She tries to cover her ears but her helmet makes that action irrelevant. Her people…her family is dying brutally as the sounds she's hearing suggest. _"It's Prazzas fault but this mission was my responsibility…Ancestors forgive me." _

She then suddenly hears a scream that differed from the ones of her squad. The scream sent shivers down her spine. It was a scream of anger…of pain and the voice it came from Tali would never confuse with anyone else.

"Shepard?"


	7. Loss of Control

After taking out a wave of drones, Tali's voice comes over Gabriels radio.

"Shepard, Prazza and most of his unit went ahead of me. I told him to wait but he didn't listen. He's trying to get to Veetor before you."

Miranda scoffs. "I knew this would happen."

Gabriel understood why Prazza did it. If human colonies weren't vanishing, Gabriel would have already killed Miranda and Jacob and took their shuttle to find The Illusive Man and take him out too, but since Cerberus had been truthful with him so far, evident from the ghost colony he was standing in at that moment, and since The Alliance or The Council wasn't doing anything about it, Gabriel wanted to know what was going on and he figured he would probably need allies if the Reapers were behind it, even if those allies were a known terrorist group and enemies of everything he believed in.

"Come on. We can still get to Veetor if we hurry." Jacob said with a rushed tone.

Veetor, a young Quarian who was on Freedom's Progress for his pilgrimage, was their only chance to find out what happened. Tali, a Quarian woman who was part of the Normandys crew before it was destroyed, was also trying to get to Veetor. _"Damn it was nice to see a friendly face…well…figuratively that is." _Gabriel thought to himself as he thought about Tali while he and his squad ran for Veetors location. _"I wonder what she's been up to. Leading her own mission…I'm happy to see the Admiralty Board saw what I saw in her."_

Suddenly, another squad of rocket drones appears. Gabriel pulls out his M-6 Carnifex, the only weapon he brought with him, and shoots two drones out of the air. One fires a rocket but Shepard quickly grabs the rocket with his mind and sends it flying at one of the other drones. Miranda used overload on one and Jacob shot another out of the sky.

Once they were done with the drones, they ventured further into the colony until they reached an empty lot. The way forward was obstructed by a massive door and it was locked. Gabriel pulled up his map and saw that Veetor, as well as Tali, was on the other side. Tali's voice breaks the silence.

"Shepard, Veetor has reprogrammed a heavy mech and it's going to tear Prazzas squad apart."

"They did want to get to Veetor first." Miranda says with a snobby tone that made Gabriel angry.

"We're at the loading docks. Please hurry!" Tali continues.

"We're on the other side of the door leading to you but it's locked." Gabriel explained to Tali over the radio. After a moment, as if Tali knew what Shepard was going to ask, the red light in the middle of the massive door turns green and opens. _"I hope we're not too late."_

He sees Tali run into a building before he sees Prazza and his companions running. Gabriel looks to his right to see the heavy mech. The Quarians are still trying to hold it off but the mech had shields and armor plating. Their weapons weren't going to be any use against that thing and it was only a matter of time before it returned fire.

Gabriel prepared to charge in as a distraction to give the mech something else to shoot at and give the Quarians a chance to find cover, but he didn't act fast enough and the mech opened fire on them.

As the mech commenced its slaughter of the Quarians, images started to appear in Gabriels mind. Every time a Quarian body fell dead, Gabriel saw a friend die. Every time a rocket exploded, he would see a house on fire. Every time a Quarian let out a scream of anguish, he would hear the screams of the people suffering on Mindoir.

The anger within him came to a boil before the pain came. The electricity filled his brain every time an image or sound appeared that reminded him of Mindoir. He falls to his knees in anguish, grabbing at his hair trying to make the pain go away. He slams his fists to the ground trying to cancel out the electricity with something…anything different. He even goes as far as slamming his own head into the ground to try to stop it. He lets out a scream of pain and anger as he watches images of suffering, chaos, and torture fly by in his mind. Then the images stop on one…

The long metal chair…

And a whisper that crawled into Gabriels brain, words that he had forgotten but knew exactly what they meant, accompany the image…

"_The pain…will not stop…until you give in…"_

Gabriel looks up to the mech…

The mech transforms into the four eyed alien that murdered his parents…

And his mind goes blank…


	8. The Rescue Mission Pt 4

After hearing the scream from Shepard, Tali turned around, looked through the window, and saw the corpses of her squad in the empty lot. The mech didn't discriminate. It was equally brutal with all of them. Some of their masks had bullet holes in them, others were still smoking from the rockets fired at them, and the Quarian in the middle of the lot still had a huge mechanical foot on her back. The foot belonged to the heavy mech that just murdered most of her squad. The heavy mech was looking in the direction Shepards scream came from. Tali looked over the same way.

Shepard was on his hands and knees with his head down, emitting biotic energy all over his body. She could tell he was in pain from the strain he was under. When Shepard looked up to the mech, Tali saw his eyes. They looked…feral…like a rabid animal.

Against Raz's protests, Tali stepped out of the building, knowing that the mechs attention was on Shepard.

"_What's happening to him?" _Tali thought before her mind went to Cerberus. _"What did they do to him?" _ She looked for the Cerberus operatives who were with him. She sees that they're also watching Shepard with confusion from the crates they were behind. Tali then looked back over to the heavy mech and notices it has its left arm pointed towards Shepard. That was the arm with the rocket launcher. "MOVE SHEP..." She attempted to yell out before the rocket repelled towards him.

The rocket hit its mark and smoke completely surrounded the area where Shepard was. Tali thought the worse for a moment before she saw Shepard run at full speed out of the smoke and towards the mech. The mech started firing on him with its chain gun, but it didn't stop him. The mech then attempted to fire another rocket at Shepard before he biotically charged, making the rocket miss completely, and reappeared right in front of the mech in midair.

Shepard let out a powerful howl as he slammed his fist brutally across the face of the mech. After he landed on his feet, he charged behind the mech and kicked it in the center of its back. The mech lurched forward and lost its balance, making it take a few steps in the direction it was bending. Before the mech could regain its balance, Shepard grabbed it with his mind, lifted it into the air and slammed it down on the ground in front of him.

Tali couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was obvious to her that Gabriel had become more powerful but she, for as long as she had known him, had never seen him fight like this. _"Shepard was always cautious. He made sure we were always behind cover, always picking our shots, but now it's…it's…" _The thought of thinking the next words sickened Tali. "_It's like Shepard has lost all control."_

The mech tried to react with its rocket arm before Shepard stomped on its shoulder, detaching the arm from the rest of the body. He then proceeded to stomp on its chest and then did it again…and again…and again. Shepards foot started to sink in to the hole that was growing larger with each vicious stomp.

Tali could feel each impact beneath her feet and she could see the small blue biotic shockwaves coming out from under the mech with each one. She could tell Shepard was putting all of his energy into this. It was like he hated that mech and wanted to watch it suffer. She would of felt bad for the torture it was going through, if it didn't just kill most of her crew.

The mech was barely moving when Shepard finally stopped stomping on it and the red U in its face was blinking on and off. Shepard then stretched out both arms above it, lifted it up high above him, and when he brought both of his arms down in different directions, the mech was ripped in half which resulted in an large explosion right above his head.

Once the smoke cleared, Tali saw Shepard standing in the middle of the lot with his back towards her, surrounded by the rubble of what was once the heavy mech. He was breathing hard and still emitting the biotic energy as he stared at his hands.

She saw the man in the black armor slowly walk towards Shepard with a pistol to his side. Tali could hear him whisper Shepards name. Shepard didn't react to his name. When the man got to Shepard, he said "Shepard!" and put a hand on Shepards shoulder. Shepard quickly turned around, grabbed the man by the throat, and lifted him up in the air.

The woman who was with Shepard came running out holding a pistol towards him. "Put Jacob down Shepard!" When he didn't comply, the woman shot him in the shoulder. The bullet didn't even faze him and he pushed his unoccupied arm out towards the woman. The invisible force sent her flying into some crates.

Tali watched in horror as Shepard was squeezing Jacobs's throat. Jacob was struggling, punching Shepards arm and trying to kick him, but it just made Shepard squeeze harder. Tali realized that if she didn't try something soon, she would witness Shepard do to Jacob what he did to the mech. _"Nobody deserves that…even if they are with Cerberus."_

Tali attempted to run to Shepard but was grabbed by Raz. She tried to break free from him.

"Let me go Raz! I have to stop him!" Tali yelled

"So you can get in the path of a man who just demolished a heavy mech by his self and is now about to kill his own squadmate? I don't think so!"

As she contemplated what Raz said, the realization hit her. "_I would just be putting myself in danger." _She stopped struggling and fell to her knees. Tali felt helpless as Shepard continued squeezing the life from his soon to be victim. "_Why is this happening? Hours ago, I was being haunted by the regrets I had for never telling him how I felt and now…now I'm watching this imposter…No it has to be him. He knew about the Geth data. He knew about the Normandy's destruction. My Shepard is in there…"_

Just as Shepard pulled back his fist, Tali quickly patched through to his radio and yelled "SHEPARD!"

Shepards fist stopped barely an inch away from Jacobs's chest, right where his heart would have been and the biotic energy that was emitting from his body started to slowly disappear. Shepard shook his head a few times before looking back at Jacob. At that moment, his facial features turned from feral to shock and he let Jacob go.

Tali watched the woman in white run to Jacob, trying to check on him.

"I'm fine Miranda." Jacob said between coughs.

Suddenly, Shepard let out a painful sounding scream while grabbing his head and feel to his knees. Tali ran to him. "Shepard? What's wrong?"

Miranda walks towards them. "Let me have a look…"

Tali quickly pulled out her pistol and pointed it towards Miranda and Jacob. "Get away from him!"

The woman quickly pulled out her pistol and pointed it at Tali as well.

"What has Cerberus done to Shepard?" Tali asked with a stern voice.

"What are you talking about?" Miranda asked.

"You know what I'm talking about. Don't tell me you actually thought that was normal."

"I was told to bring him back as he was. That's what I did. I have no idea…" Miranda explained.

Talis anger overcame her. "You lying bosh'tet! I know him and he would've never lost his composure like that! Now tell me what you did to him!" Tali then noticed that Raz and Dis had come to her side with guns drawn.

Jacob stood up, still trying to catch his breath. "Tali…I oversaw the whole thing… Miranda didn't do anything to compromise Shepards mind."

"You expect me to believe…" Tali attempted to ask before she saw a black gloved hand come down on top of her pistol. Tali looked to see whose hand it was. It was Shepards.

"Miranda put your gun away." Shepard ordered.

"I'll put mine away when she does." Miranda replies.

"You do remember who's in charge right?" Miranda looked at Shepard in frustration but finally put her gun away. Shepard looked at Tali. "Please put your gun away Tali."

"Shepard?" Tali asked with a surprised voice.

"Tali…one of your people is injured in that building right now. You need to go check on him."

"_How could I forget Veetor?" _Tali thought to herself as she put her pistol away. "You're right Shepard. You can come with me…if you want to see if Veetor knows anything about what happened here. "

Raz spoke up. "Are you sure that's safe Miss Zorah?"

Tali understood why Raz questioned her. He saw exactly what everyone else saw…Shepard attempting to kill his own squadmate. "_Keelah…why would he do that?" _She did feel though that Shepard was out of whatever state he was in. "I'll be fine Raz. I don't think that's an issue right now."

"Ok Tali. I'll take your word for it."

Shepard looked towards his squadmates. "Take a look around and see if you can find any evidence of what happened here." They nod and start their search.

Tali looked to Dis. "Radio Kar and tell him to prep the ship for departure."

"I'll…do that Miss Zorah." Raz said suddenly

"O…kay… Dis…" Tali looked around at her dead crewmembers around her. "Check our fallen…for any personal effects. Anything we can take back home…to their loved ones." Dis placed a hand on Talis shoulder and nodded before walking towards the closest fallen comrade. "_I wonder why she never talks…"_

Tali then looked towards Shepard. "Are you ready?"

"Ready when you are…Miss Zorah." Shepard said with a smile as she walked by him.

He joined her up the stairs leading to the door of the warehouse Veetor was in. Tali stopped, looked around to see everyone else doing what they were told to do, and then looked at him. "Shepard…I…"

"What's on your mind Tali?"

"_A lot...most of it pertaining to you…but I'll get the recent stuff out of the way first." _Tali thought to herself before building up her confidence. "I don't like this Shepard. You working with Cerberus…"

"You know why I'm…"

"Yes I do and I understand. If it was Quarians disappearing, I would use any means to find out why myself..." Tali then remembered what she witnessed Shepard do. Tali started to shake. "But…" Tali wanted to ask him about what happened, she just couldn't find a way to ask. "_How do you ask someone why they did…that?"_

"What happened to me Tali?" Shepard asked to Talis surprise.

"You…don't know?" Tali asked him. "_How could he possibly not know what his body was doing?"_

"I remember looking at the heavy mech…I remember watching it kill…" Shepard looked at Tali with sympathetic eyes. "I'm sorry…"

"It's ok Shepard. What else do you remember?"

"Well…while it was doing…that…I…was seeing the attack on Mindoir."

Tali remembered that name. Mindoir was the human colony Shepard was born and raised in. It was attacked by Batarian slavers when he was just a teenager. "_There are only two known survivors, Shepard and…" _She remembered Talitha. "_That poor girl…Shepard really tried his best to save her…" _Tali thought to herself before Shepard continued.

"I then felt this horrible pain in my head. It was like an electrical current was swimming through my brain. Then…"

Shepard stopped talking and looked to the side. Tali wanted to know more. "Then what Shepard?"

He looked back to her. "Then I blacked out…"

"Shepard…it was like…it was like you lost all control. It was…I'm sorry to say this but…it was like all you wanted to do was kill. No matter whom it was." The look on Shepards face was a mix of anger and fear. Tali wanted to know what was going on in his mind. "Do you have any idea what it could have been? Maybe it had something to do with Mindoir?"

"I don't know." Shepard said as he looked back at her. "I'll look into it later but for right now, let's see how Veetor's doing."

"Right" Tali said as she opened the door to the warehouse. It was dark inside. The only light in the room came from the nine monitors in front of them. The monitors had different a forms of data on them. Tali could tell the data belonged to the mechs and drones that had been attacking her and her squad since they landed. Tali then saw who was looking at the monitors.

It seemed the young Quarian didn't even realize Tali and Shepard were in the room with him as he was typing on the keyboard in front of him in the same way he was talking to himself...panicked and scared.

"Monsters coming back. Mechs will protect. Safe from swarms. Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No-no-no-no-no."

"_What did he see?" _Tali thought as she looked over at Shepard. Shepard looked back with a concerned look. She then looked down at his hand. It was hovering over his pistol. Every two to three seconds, he would poke the pistol with a finger. She had seen him do this before. It was mainly when he was talking to a possible enemy. It was his way of appearing friendly or neutral, but still be ready if things went sour. Tali understood his caution. Even though he was obviously delirious, Veetor had been trying to kill them. "_I just hope he doesn't have to use it."_

They were right behind Veetor. He still didn't notice them.

"Veetor'Nara…my name is Tali'Zorah vas Neema. I was sent from the Flotilla to find you."

"No Veetor. Not here. Swarms can't find. Monsters coming. Have to hide." Veetor rambled.

"No one's here to hurt you Veetor. We're here to help." Shepard said. Tali noticed the pokes to Shepards weapon were getting a little faster.

Veetor didn't say anything. He kept typing on the keyboard. Shepard looked at Tali with concern again. "_Maybe this will help." _Tali thought to herself before she got onto to her omni-tool. She programmed it to hack Veetors monitors. "_I hope this doesn't make him snap" _She thought to herself as she looked at Shepards hand again. Three of his fingers were poking the gun in rapid succession. Tali knew, depending on what Veetor does after what Talis about to do, that Shepard would draw his gun.

Tali hacked the monitors and at three at a time, the monitors turned off. Veetor looked up at the monitors before he got out of the chair he was in and looked at them. He was wearing a white and dark pink suit. Tali noticed he was unarmed and she looked at Shepards hand. The poking stopped.

"A fellow Quarian? What's your name?" Veetor asked Tali.

"I'm Tali'Zorah vas Neema. I was sent to see if you were ok Veetor."

"I have a small suit rupture on my back near the shoulder." Veetor explained.

"Let me have a look." Tali said as she walked behind Veetor and looked at the rupture. She could hear Veetor talking to Shepard.

"You're human. How come they didn't find you?"

"Who didn't find me?" Shepard asked back.

"The…monsters…the swarms…they took everyone." Veetor described.

"Why didn't the colonists fight back Veetor? What happened?" Shepard asked.

"You don't know. You didn't see. But I see everything." Veetor said before he pressed a button on the keyboard. The monitors came back to life. Tali looked up to them to see what was on. This time it looked like security footage of the colony.

Tali also saw something else. The footage wasn't clear so she couldn't tell what they were. All she knew was they were dark, they walked and it looked like they were carrying people. The people they were carrying were being put into long, pod looking contraptions.

"I don't recognize them. Do you Tali?" Shepard asked.

"I can't really tell. They don't look like any species I've seen before." Tali answered.

Suddenly the door to the warehouse opened. Tali looked to see who it was. It was Miranda and Jacob.

"We couldn't find anything Shepard." Jacob said before he looked at the monitors. "What the hell is that?"

Miranda took a closer look. "My god…I think it's a collector."

"Collector?" Shepard asked.

Tali continued to examine Veetors suit rupture as Miranda and Jacob went on to explain what they knew about the Collectors. They talked about how they had access to advance technology, they mainly worked for mercenaries and slavers, and how they were rarely seen by other species.

Shepard asked Veetor what happened after the colonists were placed in the pods.

"The monsters took the people onto the ship, and then they left. The ship flew away, but they will be back for me. No one escapes."

"Thank you Veetor. You've been a big help." Shepard said before looking to Tali. "How's he doing?"

Tali looked up. "The rupture is minor but the length of time he's had this open air exposure could be lethal. He needs a suit repair right away."

"I recorded the monsters and the swarms on my omni-tool. Lots of readings. Electro-magnetic. Dark energy." Veetor explained to Shepard. This made Miranda speak up.

"We need to get this data to the Illusive Man. Grab the Quarian…"

"What?" Tali yelled as she looked at Miranda. "_Over my dead body bosh'tet." _Tali thought as she got in Mirandas face. "Veetor is injured! He needs treatment, not an interrogation!"

Shepard quickly spoke up. "Don't worry Tali. It's not even up for debate. Veetor is going back to the Flotilla with you." He then looked at Miranda. "And you better remember your place before you try to give another order under my command Miranda."

Miranda looked frustrated. "But we need that data Shepard."

"You're more than welcome to take Veetors omni-tool data." Tali said to Miranda.

Miranda still looked mad but gave up. "Fine..."

Tali and Shepard then looked at each other. Tali was happy to see he was still on her side.

"Thank you Shepard. I'm glad you're the one still giving the orders."

"Anytime Tali."

"Good luck out there. If I find anything that can help you in anyway, I'll let you know and Shepard…" Tali looked at Miranda and Jacob. "_I still don't trust either of you" _Tali thought to herself before looking back at Shepard. "Just be careful okay?"

"I will Tali. Same goes for you."

As Tali, Raz, Dis, and Veetor walked toward their ship, Talis mind was racing.Her first mission was a success but at what cost. Only two members of her squad were still alive. She couldn't stop feeling guilty over it. "_I should have sided with my people. They might still be alive if I did. I shouldn't have let the fact that Shepard…" _This was her silver lining, one of the only good things that came out of all this other than completing the mission. "_Shepard is alive. Ancestors…please let us see each other again."_


End file.
